Dominican agents find cocaine in cacao shipment

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) – Anti-drug agents in the Dominican Republic have uncovered a load of cocaine being smuggled out of the country amid a shipment of cacao, the raw ingredient in chocolate.

National Drug Control Agency spokesman Robert Lebron said Tuesday the 198 packets of cocaine were found in a container destined for Italy. The weight and value of the load was not yet available. Lebron said the container had been checked and sealed before agents returned and uncovered the drugs in the port of Caucedo.

The port east of Santo Domingo is the largest in the country and the only one with X-ray equipment for scanning containers. Dominican authorities have made record seizures of cocaine in each of the past three years, including several significant ones at the port.

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